by Christopher James
A Teacher is an odd little show. Hannah Fidell’s adaptation of her 2013 feature once again explores an illicit relationship between a female teacher and her male high school student. The miniseries sometimes feels like an Adrian Lyne movie by way of a 2013 indie film. It’s both muted and salacious. This makes for an odd viewing experience, given the subject matter. However, at less than 30 minutes a pop, A Teacher is still a quick and satisfying binge.
Kate Mara plays Claire, a thirtysomething English teacher in Austin, Texas. Her home life feels incredibly familiar. She has a nice, if distant, husband (Ashley Zukerman), a lovely suburban home and is in the process of trying to start a family. Still, there’s something in Claire that chafes against this life she’s built for herself. When she reads Dylan Thomas’ poem “Race against the dying of the light” to her senior AP English students, she captures the eye of Eric (Nick Robinson), a golden boy senior.
It all begins seemingly innocent enough...
Eric introduces himself to Claire at the diner he works at. Claire offers to tutor Eric for the SATs so he can get into University of Texas at Austin. Then, lines start to get crossed. A Teacher does a strong job of showing how little actions can be construed as grooming and abuse the power dynamic between teacher and student. Claire wars with herself on whether to allow Eric to follow her on Instagram. After deciding yes, the two begin a text correspondence that culminates in Eric asking Claire to pick him up from a party that got raided by cops.
Perhaps the most egregious non-sexual line crossed occurs when Claire takes Eric to visit the UT and the two of them end up at a frat party. It’s here that Claire opens up about being a commuter student who spent all of college taking care of her alcoholic father. Kate Mara gives a moving and measured performance throughout the miniseries. She’s a buttoned up woman who feels she has waited too long to give in to her desires. However, Mara never shies away from Claire’s selfishness. She refuses to acknowledge the role she played in instigating the relationship with Eric, mostly because she’s consumed with living out this version of her young adulthood she never got to experience.
Similarly, Nick Robinson grows into the role of Eric rather nicely, especially as the show progresses. He starts the series with an adorable “aw shucks” grin that feels infectious. However, Robinson really gets to shine as the story picks up. He illustrates how easily a teenage boy can mistake lust for love and helps define the maturity gap between Eric and Claire.
This may sound like a damning compliment, but A Teacher seems like the type of content that Quibi thought it was producing. Each episode barely scratches past the twenty minute mark, yet somehow feels like a ten or fifteen minute short. Still, there’s enough dramatic heft to each episode that makes it compelling and efficient. This makes A Teacher an oddly bingeable show despite the intense subject matter.
Perhaps waiting and binging is the best way to consume A Teacher. The initial three episodes (and even a few after that) all revel in the illicit affair of Clarie and Eric. Despite the very prominent advisory warnings about the sexual situations and grooming, one may mistake early episodes for paperback erotica. Part of this could be the quality of the lines, where almost everything feels like a telegraphed come on.
By the end, the limited series successfully, if ham handedly, articulates its condemnation of Claire and Eric’s relationship. Even with consent and Eric turning 18, A Teacher shows that this torrid affair creates lasting psychological effects on the young victim. There’s a tendency for mainstream culture to show leniency on this pairing, chalking it up to a horny teenage boy fantasy. A Teacher may speed through the fallout of the central relationship. However, by the end it does a strong job of articulating how Claire abused her power and, perhaps unwittingly, groomed her student. It would be too easy to vilify Claire. Instead, it tries to merely hold her accountable.
A Teacher walks a tricky tightrope, and it doesn’t always do so elegantly. Thanks to strong performances, it’s able to overcome some “after school special” writing to become an engrossing and thoughtful drama. B
The first three episodes of A Teacher are available on FX on Hulu. New episodes will be available each Tuesday on FX on Hulu.